Another Made-Up Shopping Holiday: Way Day

Many holidays have become commercialized (PayPal just sent out a marketing email today touting “Mother’s Day gifts up to 60% off”), and now companies are making up their own holidays to encourage retail shopping. Alibaba found massive success in China with its made-up holiday Singles Day, and Wayfair is the latest online seller to get creative.

Wayfair announced “Way Day,” a new retail holiday for home. Wayfair sells 10 million items across home furnishings, décor, home improvement, housewares and more – finding success in selling furniture, a category many believed would not be feasible selling online.

The new holiday is a “retail event” taking place on April 25th. The company wrote in its announcement: “Beginning at midnight, Wayfair will offer Black Friday-low prices for 24 hours on thousands of popular home furnishings, décor and home improvement items at a time of year when home is top of mind for its customers.”

Way Day is complete with “doorbusters,” more associated with brick-and-mortar Christmas sales than spring online shopping.

More from the company announcement:

Sponsored Link

“Way Day will kick off at 12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 25 with the lowest prices since Black Friday on more than 70,000 products and door-buster deals launching every six hours. Whether at home or on-the-go, customers can browse Way Day deals on desktop or on mobile through the Wayfair app.

“All shoppers will have access to unbeatable pricing on thousands of the most sought-after seasonal items including outdoor patio furniture such as conversation sets, umbrellas, hammocks, fire pits and grills. In addition, Way Day prices will be available across all major product categories including kitchen & dining, bedding, rugs, tabletop, and mattresses including the company’s exclusive, compact bed-in-a-box mattress, Nora.

“To shop Way Day deals and discover millions of products across home furnishings, décor, home improvement, housewares and more, go to: www.wayfair.com/wayday.”

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.